Wexford Alpacas is a small family farm based in south Co. Wexford at the foot of Forth Mountain, with beautiful views of Kilmore Quay and beyond.
Established in early 2020 by Carmel and Geoff, many hands and many more hours have helped to breathe new life into this 22-acre plot.
Here at Wexford Alpacas, we focus on good quality breeding and happy, healthy animals. We have a passion for all things alpaca and work alongside nature as much as we can to protect the biodiversity and environment we are surrounded by.
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Opt Out of CookiesSo, What Are Alpacas?
Apart from being extremely cute
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Alpacas (vicugna pacos) are members of the camelid family and originate in Peru, high in the Andes. There are two distinct breeds, huacaya and suri. Smaller than their llama cousins, they are highly prized for their soft, hypoallergenic fleece. They can be out-wintered, setting them apart from horses and cattle. They are often used as therapy animals, owing to their calm and gentle nature. While they can be quite shy, they are also very curious and will often approach to say hello when you're nearby. They are incredibly social animals and have a strong herd instinct, meaning they need to be kept with other alpacas for their peace-of-mind. They chat to each other (and us!) using gentle hums but get on their bad side and they may spit!
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What About the Alpaca Fleece?
OMG - they look so weird after shearing!
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Alpaca fleece is incredibly dense and soft. It comes in over 22 natural colours, from white and faun right through to black. It is finer than sheep's wool and contains no lanolin, meaning very little processing is needed to turn it into wool. Quality is assessed by looking at the crimp or natural wave in the fleece. The more crimped a fleece is, the higher the quality. Alpaca fibre lends itself well to warm, draped clothing such as scarves and ponchos. Alpacas are shorn once a year, usually in late spring or early summer, meaning they can keep cool in the heat but will have plenty of fleece to keep them warm when the long winter nights come around.
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What do you do with all the poop?!
Scoop it up and reuse it, of course!
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Alpacas do everything together, including going to the loo! One patch of the pasture is chosen and this area is what is called the midden. The manure they produce is an amazing natural fertiliser. So much so that people in the know often refer to it as black gold! It can improve soil quality and the soil's ability to hold water. It is lower in organic matter than that of other livestock species so the concentration of soil-loving nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus is higher. Due to the lower amounts of organic matter present, it can be applied straight to plants and flowers without burning or damaging them. Collecting it from the midden also results in a lower parasite burden so the animals require fewer worming treatments than other livestock species.
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Awww, the wee babies are adorable
it takes alpaca mommas over eleven months to bake a cria!
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Alpacas give birth to one baby a year and these are called cria, coming from the Spanish word for baby. They can be born at any time of year but to give them the best chance, we aim to have them all born early in the summer when the days are long and the grass is good. Cria are generally between 7-9kg at birth and grow rapidly in the first few months of life. Unlike other animals the mothers do not lick their newborns dry, instead they lie beside them while they dry off in the sun. Alpacas are very good mothers and bond rapidly with their babies. They will stick close to each other until the cria is around 6 months old, at which point they are weaned. They reach full maturity at around 3 years of age and can live up to 25 years.
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